German organ lists doctored

Kate Connolly, Berlin

GERMAN medical authorities are calling for an overhaul of the country's organ transplant program after transplant centres were placed under criminal investigation over allegations they had systematically manipulated donor waiting lists.

Scores of patients are believed to have been given priority access to donor organs after doctors falsified the severity of their illnesses to ensure they received treatment ahead of other patients in Europe.

The revelations have led to accusations of widespread corruption and dishonesty in the system, and shattered public trust. Since the scandal emerged last year with a handful of cases that were initially believed to be isolated incidents, the number of Germans willing to donate organs has plummeted.

Post-death donations have dropped by between 20 per cent and 40 per cent, according to the German foundation for organ transplantation.

Investigations countrywide have revealed that in at least four clinics, patient data was distorted or falsified in order to improve patients' chances of getting an organ. At least 107 cases of obvious manipulation have come to light so far.

At one clinic in Munich, doctors were accused of ''active manipulation'' of data after investigators found cases in which patients' blood samples were mixed with urine to make them appear sicker. Urine in the blood is an indication that internal organs are no longer functioning properly.

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In two further cases, blood samples were submitted from a person who had never even been a patient at the clinic.

Clinics have come under investigation in Gottingen, Regensburg, Munich and Leipzig. All of them are university teaching hospitals with hitherto excellent reputations. Experts blamed growing competition between clinics, which are increasingly coming under pressure to boost revenue. The worldwide shortage of donors exacerbates the problem.

Senior doctors and transplant surgeons across the four clinics have been suspended pending further investigations.

''There are too many transplant centres in Germany and too few organs,'' said Eugen Brysch, the head of Germany's foundation for patient protection.

A doctor in Gottingen is reported to have had written into his contract that he would receive bonus payments for every liver he was able to transplant, a system of rewards already deeply criticised by Germany's medical authorities.

At Leipzig's University Clinic, surgeons are accused of blocking the investigation by Germany's general medical council after claiming to have mislaid patients' notes, including details of who was receiving dialysis. The documents finally came to light this month, allegedly revealing a similar pattern of data manipulation.

The medical council (Arztekammer) has identified at least 38 cases of manipulation in Leipzig, allegedly involving distorted applications to Eurotransplant, the European organ transplant centre based in Leiden, the Netherlands.